Autos to remain off roads today

For thousands of commuters who depend on the City’s 1.2-lakh autorickshaws, Monday might prove to be a nightmare, as the three-wheeler will remain off the roads with the 24-hour strike set to begin Sunday midnight.

The impact will be felt on Monday morning when hundreds of office-goers, students and other commuters will be scrambling for alternative modes of transport to reach their destination.
The strike by various auto unions under the aegis of Autorickshaw Drivers Organisations United Struggle Committee comes four days after the auto LPG prices were hiked.

The union members will also hand over a memorandum of demands to the chief minister. Adarsh Auto Drivers’ Union president Manjunath said: “We will submit a memorandum to the chief minister tomorrow (Monday). If our demands are not met, we will sit on a dharna in front of the chief minister’s office and will also court arrest if such a situation arises.”

One of their main demands is that the government should reduce VAT and other taxes on LPG for auto rickshaws.

Further, they are demanding that government agencies such as the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Karnataka Housing Board should provide houses to drivers of auto that are the City’s lifeline.

They also want the government to set up Autorickshaw Drivers’ Welfare Board to look into the issues of health security and other benefits for their family members.

The committee is seeking a meeting with the chief minister and the home minister on the issue of harassment of autorickshaw drivers by the traffic police.

The committee also demands that they should be entitled for direct auto loans from the Karnataka Minorities Development Corporation.

On January 1, auto gas prices were hiked by a whopping Rs 11 much to the dismay of the autorickshaw drivers.

Recently, the State government had shot down their demand for hiking the minimum fare to Rs 30 from Rs 20, and the auto drivers had to settle for Rs 25 as the minimum fare.